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Tagged: Boston Marathon

Monday will be the 118th running of the Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon. This year, the Boston Marathon carries a significance and a strength for a city that recently marked the anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombings.

The day was marked with an emotional tribute event at the Hynes Convention Center. The people killed were remembered, along with the survivors and the first responders. “This day will always be hard,” said former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. “It will never be easy to gather so close to that finish line. It will never be easy to be so close to that place where our lives broke apart.

A few of our employees have run or volunteered at the Marathon in years past, and last year was no exception. John Drewniak, manager of our Plymouth, MA location, was kind enough share his experience of running last year, as well as his mindset going into this year’s marathon.

I’ve been running since I was 12 years old. I ran a middle school race and would train with my dad every year for the Turkey Trot. Last year was my first year running the Boston Marathon. I’d run a few marathons before – I’d done Vermont City a couple of times and the Bay State marathon – but I’ve got a bad knee, so the Boston Marathon was supposed to be my last marathon.

As I passed the Fenway area during my race, I thought of all the memories I had of watching the race with dad and grandfather. When reaching the final stretch of the race, I was thinking about how excited I was to see all my friends and family at the finish line.

I finished the race, and saw my family, friends and members of the Sullivan Tire team who were volunteering. We went to go get a beer, and I hugged my mom, and then I saw something go off over my mom’s shoulder while we were celebrating.

It went from being one of the best days of my life to the scariest.

After the second explosion went off, it was just chaos. People were running every which way, colliding with each other. Since I’d just finished running the marathon, I couldn’t really think straight, so I just followed my father, and we started searching for friends and family members.

This year’s marathon is an important day for the city. It’s a historic day. It’s about healing, the survivors, and the first responders that stepped up. It’s one of those things where the purpose of the attack was to deter people from racing, but after what happened, there was no question I would run again this year.

I couldn’t let my experience last year be the way that it ended.

There are a lot of different thoughts going into this year’s marathon. I’m running for the people that were injured or killed, and also for the people who are suffering because they were there, and witnessed the bombing.

Despite the tragedy, you saw the good in people, and that should be celebrated this year.

The big day is finally here, and everyone at Sullivan Tire is wishing the dedicated runners, especially Mark Sullivan, the best of luck today. For those of us not on the sidelines this morning, Boston.com will be our go-to source for all the Marathon updates.

How are you celebrating Marathon Monday? Where’s your favorite place to watch the race? Are you staying cool? Let us know in the comments!

The days are counting down as the big day draws near. What seemed like an eternity a few months ago, is now just a week away. April 16th will mark the 116th Boston Marathon, adding another exciting chapter to the long, rich history of one of the most famous Marathons in the world.

As my many months of rigorous and time consuming training are winding down, the nerves and excitement are starting to build each day. I feel as prepared as I can be, and hope the weather is cooperative. The course presents many challenges of its own, so no one running the race wants the weather to be a disadvantage.

We all need as much help as we can get after 20 miles, and knowing there are still 6.2 miles still yet to conquer… During those last few miles, the fear of the unknown starts to kick in as your body and mind slow start to breakdown. It almost becomes a mind over matter race at that point!

Additionally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their contributions, encouragement and support. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am running for the non-profit American SCORES Boston at this year’s marathon. They have been a pleasure to work with and this has given me a chance to see another side to this remarkable organization that I would not have seen if it was not for the Marathon.

Again, thanks so much for helping a worthy cause, and I hope to see you at the finish line on Patriot’s day afternoon!

Well it is just over a month before Marathon Monday and I am very pleased with my training and conditions at this juncture! This is a critical period as the long runs become very important and can make or break the goal time you hope to achieve. Certainly diet, proper rest and other variables factor in, however, the long run is the key element.

Over the last month, I have completed two long training runs of 17.5 and 20 miles respectively. On top of that, I ran a personal best (2 hours and 39 minutes) at the Black Cat 20 Mile Road Race in Salem, MA last week. Mixed in with these long runs have been some more moderate distances of anywhere from 5 to 10 miles, as well as several hill workouts (which are very grueling!) along the marathon course in Newton.

I will be competing in the New Bedford, MA Half Marathon this weekend in hopes of running a great 13 miles (which I can project the following 13 based off of my time). Then Saturday the 24st of March, one last long run of 21 miles along the marathon course from Hopkinton to Boston College. This will be invaluable, as this gives me an opportunity to work out any “kinks” on a pretrial marathon run along the actual course.

I will keep my fingers crossed so that I can stay healthy and injury free over the next month. I hope that April 16th will bring a favorable day of weather and help make many, many days of hard work, worth all the while.

The excitement is building and the days are starting to warm up as Spring approaches; we are almost out of the woods as another Winter comes and goes!

Although I’ve participated in Boston marathon the last 3 years, this will be my first time running to raise money for a cause. I’m very excited, and running for America SCORES Boston has provided some additional motivation.

For me, running a long distance like the Boston marathon is a great way to break up the winter doldrums, and look forward to spring. However, this is much easier said than done!

I look forward to sharing my experiences with you as I train for the Boston Marathon and hearing from you as well! Any other runners out there participating in this year’s marathon? What keeps you motivated during training?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section, and I’ll keep you posted on my progress!